Mohamed Merah, the gunman who killed seven people France, may have drawn inspiration for his murderous rampage from a self-styled Islamist leader nicknamed “the white emir” by the French press.

Mr Corel, who emigrated to France in 1973 and became a citizen in 1983, was investigated by French police on suspicion of involvement in a circle of jihadists

Syrian-born Olivier Corel, 65, has admitted to The Daily Telegraph that he had been visited on at least one occasion by Merah’s older brother, Abdelkader. But he was evasive when asked if he knew Merah, who this week died in a blaze of gunfire after a 32-hour siege.

Wearing a chequered head scarf that he used to obscure the lower part of his face, and sporting a long beard, he said on Friday that Abdelkader Merah had visited him a few weeks ago to discuss a divorce and Islamist religious law.

Mr Corel, who emigrated to France in 1973 and became a citizen in 1983, was investigated by French police on suspicion of involvement in a circle of jihadists, based in the Ariege region south of Toulouse, and of encouraging them to fight in Iraq.

Several members of the cell were arrested in 2007 in the rural region and were convicted in June 2009 of “association with members of a terrorist organisation.” Mr Corel, who earned his nickname for his fair hair and blonde beard, was not convicted of any offence.

Speaking outside his small holding in the tiny hill-top hamlet of Les Lanes, with the snow-capped Pyrenees as a backdrop, he said: “If he (Abdelkader Merah) says he came by here, then he came by here. People come and go and I cannot tell you all their names.”

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Mohamed Merah, the gunman who killed seven people France, may have drawn inspiration for his murderous rampage from a self-styled Islamist leader nicknamed “the white emir” by the French press.

Mr Corel, who emigrated to France in 1973 and became a citizen in 1983, was investigated by French police on suspicion of involvement in a circle of jihadists

Syrian-born Olivier Corel, 65, has admitted to The Daily Telegraph that he had been visited on at least one occasion by Merah’s older brother, Abdelkader. But he was evasive when asked if he knew Merah, who this week died in a blaze of gunfire after a 32-hour siege.

Wearing a chequered head scarf that he used to obscure the lower part of his face, and sporting a long beard, he said on Friday that Abdelkader Merah had visited him a few weeks ago to discuss a divorce and Islamist religious law.

Mr Corel, who emigrated to France in 1973 and became a citizen in 1983, was investigated by French police on suspicion of involvement in a circle of jihadists, based in the Ariege region south of Toulouse, and of encouraging them to fight in Iraq.

Several members of the cell were arrested in 2007 in the rural region and were convicted in June 2009 of “association with members of a terrorist organisation.” Mr Corel, who earned his nickname for his fair hair and blonde beard, was not convicted of any offence.

Speaking outside his small holding in the tiny hill-top hamlet of Les Lanes, with the snow-capped Pyrenees as a backdrop, he said: “If he (Abdelkader Merah) says he came by here, then he came by here. People come and go and I cannot tell you all their names.”